Comments on Our Loudoun Schools: Long-term solutions for Dulles North High Schools

Everyone in Ashburn cares about over-crowded schoo...

2009-11-24T16:01:59.342-05:00

Everyone in Ashburn cares about over-crowded schools-- no matter where you live. And building schools where people live should be a priority but for some reason the boards of the past have not though so. This is not a unique problem to Stone Bridge- it is a problem throughout Loudoun County. Except for maybe Eastern Loudoun where they have enough schools! Everyone has had to move, travel long distances, deal with kids making and losing friends. No one has been or will ever be immune until the schools are built and developers and the BOS are held accountable for the proper infrastructure. But until we can figure out how to get more money we must accept a temporary change and work to solve this dilemma. Talk of charter schools, magnet schools etc. is not a solution. Public schools as we have them are fine, we just need to work on getting them where we need them and it may take some drastic measures to get the land and money. It is what it is for right now. Sad as it may be.

I hope you find the counseling you need. Sounds l...

2009-11-24T10:50:45.643-05:00

I hope you find the counseling you need. Sounds like you are the one with the extreme case of bitterness.

So now that Ashburn has "helped us" find a school,...

2009-11-24T10:31:44.461-05:00

So now that Ashburn has "helped us" find a school, Ashburn wants to "help us" find the most painful way to go there?

Unbelievable that anybody from Ashburn even cares. Ashburn has certainly "helped" Lansdowne enough. Ashburn's past bad experiences with the school board shouldn't be replayed now to achieve some twisted sense of parity. And we would do that I guess to scratch some sort of bitterness itch that some AF residents are apparently still carrying around??? Professional counseling would be the best choice for the bitterness issues. How about let's stick with logic and board-implied-commitment for that matter with regard to phasing.

Karma is out there...

"The jealous are troublesome to others, but torment to themselves."
-- William Penn

The ONLY reason that this "new" phasing policy is ...

2009-11-23T18:31:36.178-05:00

The ONLY reason that this "new" phasing policy is being discussed is because Bob Ohneiser is pushing hard for it. This is a core belief of his, and he has been talking about it since this process started back in March. If not for him, it wouldn't be on the table.

Really? the transitions that my kids have had to e...

2009-11-23T17:29:56.563-05:00

Really? the transitions that my kids have had to endure have NEVER been sugar coated. They have had to live with the policy in place.

There doesn't need to be a policy for this transit...

2009-11-23T16:44:20.608-05:00

There doesn't need to be a policy for this transition. Every change made by the board stands on it's merits and faults. And the uglier the transition; the more sugar they need to apply to make the deal work for everybody. This is nothing new. Again, as an Ashburn resident, don't even see why you would care at all. You should just be glad it isn't you moving and remain quiet on issues that don't affect you at all.

Oh my goodness, 1)to say "ashburn won and Lansdow...

2009-11-23T16:37:59.448-05:00

Oh my goodness,
1)to say "ashburn won and Lansdowne lost" you would think this was some sort of sporting contest. Everyone wins with less crowded schools.
2) everyone has hardships when it comes to their kids and transportation, daycare, before and after school activities- a price we pay for having kids. No ones "hardship" is any greater or less than anyone elses.
3)Changing the process of transition is fine-- phasing in is a good idea but there needs to be a clear policy on the matter. Is it for just this one instance or does it become policy for every boundary change in the future or will it be available on an as needed basis in the future depending on the situation. It would be nice to know, especially when we are looking at many future changes- esp. at the middle school level.
4) parents set the tone for their kids, if you as a parent don't make the transition process smooth and you make it seem like the biggest tragedy in your child's life, guess what, it will be. My niece had to switch schools this year, her JUNIOR year. She has done fine and has made lots of new friends and kept up with the old. She is not and was not the most popular or outgoing kid and she has adjusted. She has an allegence to both of her schools, it is kind of neat to see!
5)Name calling and accusations can be made both ways. This was not handled well from the beginning- (last winter)I am glad the process is nearly over (I hope) and we can all move on regardless of where we end up.

Can we PPPLLLLLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE get back to some s...

2009-11-23T16:22:01.837-05:00

Can we PPPLLLLLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE get back to some sort of useful discussion. This is getting old.........

I have never seen an apology from Mr. Dupree...and...

2009-11-23T16:14:14.964-05:00

I have never seen an apology from Mr. Dupree...and I've been paying attention to all the information posted with regard to this issue all year.

I don't think that Mr Dupree has ever apologized f...

2009-11-23T16:09:48.248-05:00

I don't think that Mr Dupree has ever apologized for his remarks.

If the rude comments you're referring to are the completely-factual-statements made by community members regarding behaviors by some members of the board that were discovered as a result of the FOIA, well, yes it does stink to be caught. The statements are fact though, not slander.

So, to me, the two situations are completely different.

I have to respectfully disagree about poor leaders...

2009-11-23T15:28:18.880-05:00

I have to respectfully disagree about poor leadership from Mr. DuPree. Yes, Mr. DuPree did make one bad comment after a 5+ hour marathon meeting that ended in a no-vote. I am not here to defend that comment, though I thought I had heard that he did formally apologize to the Lansdowne community.

Now fast forward to last week. Mr. DuPree had more nasty ugly comments, accusations, and downright rude behavior aimed directly at him in a public forum. He graciously thanked every single speaker with no malice in his voice.

Gratuitously insulting the man, while being upset with and finding bias in one remark he made seems very hypocritical. As a county, we have serious financial and logistical/infrastructure problems. Fighting amongst ourselves does not solve them. We all need to act with respect toward each other and fix this problem TOGETHER!

I believe that this blog is supposed to be about "long-term solutions" We need to get back to that focus and come up with some suggestions so that Mr. Stevens has ideas to move forward with.

Leaders incite behaviors in the groups of people t...

2009-11-23T13:28:37.700-05:00

Leaders incite behaviors in the groups of people they represent. This is true for both admirable and reprehensible behaviors.

When you see a dirty football/soccer team, the coach of the team is usually responsible for encouraging this attitude and style of play. Same with honorable teams, a strong honorable leader won't field a dirty team.

Ashburn has had a very poor example set by their school board representative Dupree. This process has been very divisive and painful as a result.

For everyone in Ashburn that says that THS is not ...

2009-11-23T09:14:46.953-05:00

For everyone in Ashburn that says that THS is not too far and that Briar Woods is too far for them. The distances in "miles" are similar, the distance in "time" is not even close. Give Ashburn farm the the option of Briar Woods or THS and see if anybody picks THS. It's very easy to talk about how easy somebody else's burden is. You don't really "get it" until you are in the same boat though.

Ashburn seems to not only want Lansdowne out of "their" school (ridiculous) but they want them to suffer to the maximum extent in the process as well because they feel they have suffered in the past (I guess). What is wrong with these people? Who thinks like that? Ashburn won, Lansdowne lost, at this point why would Ashburn residents care at all about how the transfer of Lansdowne is implemented? Nothing worse than a sore winner.

Sew Creative - not sure if you were referring to m...

2009-11-23T07:10:59.923-05:00

Sew Creative - not sure if you were referring to me, but I honestly didn't mean to fight with someone on my side ;^).

Perhaps my emotions got the better of me and it didn't translate well in print. Just hoping to get the best solution possible at this point.

How is Tuscarora a "distant school" it is only 5 m...

2009-11-22T21:53:15.634-05:00

How is Tuscarora a "distant school" it is only 5 miles from seldens landing. Have you driven there??

Wow! Fighting with someone on your side isn't adva...

2009-11-22T20:41:25.356-05:00

Wow! Fighting with someone on your side isn't advancing the cause. There are approx 130 current 8th graders that are affected and about that many current freshman. I know I didn't say that I supported either option, just that Lansdowne has been given two bad choices.

And I don't think it matters who's "pet project" i...

2009-11-22T20:02:17.240-05:00

And I don't think it matters who's "pet project" it may be, it is the right thing to do for these students as outlined in the post above. If Lansdowne is given the choice, then it may be even less than 100 that stay and/or go. There's no reason to rip these kids away from their friends from middle school and 9th grade to start 10th grade where they know hardly anyone.

IMHO, phasing is the pet project of Bob O and was ...

2009-11-22T17:31:09.331-05:00

IMHO, phasing is the pet project of Bob O and was added as an option to make it appear that Lansdowne students and their families would have a choice.

ok your comments are understood, but what about al...

2009-11-22T13:48:37.170-05:00

ok your comments are understood, but what about all the other temporary moves that other neighborhoods have endured over the years, they were never given that option to phase in. It is not a bad idea just an idea that will create more problems in the future boundary debates.

Lansdowne should definitely be phased for several ...

2009-11-22T10:41:41.227-05:00

Lansdowne should definitely be phased for several reasons. The Leesburg schools should not be phased for the same reasons.

1) The move for Lansdowne is temporary, unlike the Leesburg students.

2) The location of the school will create a hardship for Lansdowne residents. It's the wrong direction from where the parents work and you'll have to fight to get out there and then fight to get back only to continue to fight to get further east to your work on days that require you to drive your kid to school or to pick them up afterwords. There will be plenty of these trips and this too is different from the Leesburg folks. The parents with kids at Stone Bridge already should have the option of letting them finish with their friends that they have gone through the last 8 years of school with.

3) Lansdowne will be the minority at the school and the other Leesburg kids will be going with their friends. For this reason, the Lansdowne kids already at Stone Bridge should be allowed to finish with their friends.

4) The number of kids affected by Lansdowne phasing is not a huge number of kids (100 or so I think). This number doesn't burden SBHS much and doesn't fill THS much eiher. This is the very least the school board can do after shipping Lansdowne off to a distant school.

5) THS was always part of the plan for Leesburg students; that certainly wasn't the case for Lansdowne.

So, should the school board decide to go with a ph...

2009-11-22T06:38:16.490-05:00

So, should the school board decide to go with a phase in where only rising 9th graders be made to attend Tuscarora, will that decision then apply to the Leesburg students who will be moving to Tuscarora too?? Will that force Tuscarora to potentially only open with a freshman class. I am thinking that the school board should not open that can of worms and stick with current policy.

Unfortunately, the county has been playing musical...

2009-11-21T13:37:20.352-05:00

Unfortunately, the county has been playing musical chairs with our kids for years and the music is about to stop and there aren't going to be enough chairs.

If they don't get this fixed then I think we'll see people start moving out of the county. What choice will people have?

well, the numbers are in and posted on the plannig...

2009-11-21T07:41:03.823-05:00

well, the numbers are in and posted on the plannig web site. After looking at them how can anyone not fight for a high school and middle school north of the greenway...OH, high school 6 is needed too-- Briar Woods is looking at 4000 kids in the out years... this is scary. In the mean time we better use what we have--because all of our kids need and deserve a great education and opportunities to grow. Maybe they can slove this mess!

I don't know how you add onto Stone Bridge since i...

2009-11-20T18:42:48.416-05:00

I don't know how you add onto Stone Bridge since it sits on 57 acres. It doesn't seem like there's a lot of room for new construction. I guess that parking would need to be taken away and kids could only take the bus??? Whoever said Open Heart Surgery put it mildly. And if the person is correct about Broad Run then there surely isn't any room there and all the extra kids would have to go to a Stone Bridge mega school. Not sure where this leaves us.

What is confusing folks at this point is that the ...

2009-11-20T18:34:20.381-05:00

What is confusing folks at this point is that the Planning Staff has modified the old Dulles North in the CIP and split it into "Ashburn" and "Dulles North" in this new CIP. It will be interesting to see if the designations of "DN" also changes with the modification that they have made this year.

So, according to the Planning Staff, as of last week in their Draft CIP, SBHS and BRHS are in "Ashburn" and no longer in "Dulles North."

Why is this important? Because it is finally being acknowledged by planning staff that the schools problem needs to be fixed north of the Greenway!